Now this site on walking the city is really interesting. Thanks to David over at Barista for the link.

In my own fashion I have been doing psychogeography without knowing that I have. However, instead of using alogorithms, I have used poodles. My first poodle Fichte walked the city as leader of the pack and I would follow with a camera. We used to do around two hours a day several days a week. I never much thought about it. It was just something we did.

Looking back it is clear that both us were situationists in our creative exploration of the inner cityof Adelaide. Our emphasis was less on the shape and design of the city than the city as a process: a shift from anatomy of the urban designer to the interaction between people and animals. Fichte made the urban his place: he had his favourite spots, the particular smells, the trails between the favourite spots, the people he disliked and avoided, the people he trusted and interacted with, his haunts etc etc.

Over the period of time I noticed how the urban atmosphere changed to become increasingly hostile to a dog walking free with his owner. Dogs kill (they're wild wolves) not cars, was the mentality that was developing. that mentality now requires law and order legislation for dogs whilst the cars are free to pollute the atmosphere and poison us.

The people over at the social fiction blog say that psychogeography:

"...psychogeographical walks are not meant to reinforce your ideas for places you haven�t been; it�s about trying to find uses (including design strategies) as they are suggested by the area itself."

"Branding a city is trying to make people believe in what Le Corbusier tried to design: something from a postcard: a snapshot featuring some architecture, a dancing girl & sunlight half June. Truth is the building is a prison: the girl is a robot & the sun gave you skincancer: welcome to the real world."

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